


Paper Airplanes

by TheDesertPenguin (PANguin)



Series: Paper Love [2]
Category: IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, F/M, Fluff, I Don't Even Know, I asked my friend what to write and she said this, I have no clue if this makes sense, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, M/M, Sonia Kaspbrak's A+ Parenting, Wedding times, just for fun, so here you go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 03:14:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21154682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PANguin/pseuds/TheDesertPenguin
Summary: *This is a sequel so I'd recommend reading the first one*“Do you think we’ll ever have a wedding like this?” Eddie asked randomly during the dance.“Of course, I do Eds,” Richie muttered into his hair, “Especially since you’d be the one planning it,”“What makes you think I’d plan it?” Eddie pulled back slightly with his eyebrows scrunched together.“Are you saying you’d let me pick out the cake? The decorations?” he asked with a smirk“God, no,” Eddie groaned leaning back into Richie, “You would totally make them all look like dicks or something,”“Awwe, babe you know me so well,” Richie cooed and pulled Eddie back to peck his nose.“Do you think we’ll actually get married?” Eddie questioned shyly.Richie smiled and gave him a slow kiss, “Wouldn’t doubt it for the world,”





	Paper Airplanes

The wedding was beautiful and organized beyond belief, of course, it was Stan who planned his wedding and Richie isn’t quite sure what he expected. Richie had woken up at 5:30 in the morning because Stan had called him saying he was ‘late’ to which Richie replied ‘it is 5 in the morning Stan I’m supposed to be there at 7’. Stan told him to hurry the fuck up anyway so Richie groaned and quietly got ready in an effort to not wake up Eddie. When Richie had got there Stan practically threw a large binder at him and caused him to stumble back. Upon further inspection, the binder was about 7 inches thick.

“Why the fuck is this binder so huge?” Richie had said sleepily

“I need to be prepared for anything,” Stan huffed as he wrote something on a clipboard.

Richie looked through the binder before stopping, “What to do if there’s an apocalypse, Stan what the actual fuck is this,”

“I’m not letting a sudden apocalypse stop my wedding,” 

“Did you rent out a bomb shelter,” Richie joked as he continued reading through the binder. Upon Stan's silence, he looked up to see Stan busying himself with the clipboard, “Stan!”

“I need to be prepared!” Stan defended crossing his arms and looking away.

“Remind me why Bill wants to marry you again?” Stan frowned and flipped him off,

“Because he loves me dipshit,”

Richie had known this obviously but it didn’t stop him from teasing Stan mercilessly. Though despite all his teasing he cried a little watching them get married. Now, as they were at the dinner and they had eaten for quite a while Richie decided it was as good of a time as any. At the practice dinner, Richie had been adamant about not saying his speech, opting to go on a tangent of saying ‘blah, blah, blah’ in various accents. Stan slapped his arm hard after that but he was smiling. So, with a deep breath, Richie stood up, tapped his glass for longer than necessary and smiled widely at the crowd that was now looking at him.

“Okay as a best man I was told that I had to write a speech for my man Stanley,” Richie nudged him slightly, “and thinking about it now I don’t think anything I could write would express what Stan means to me, no matter how cheesy that sounds. So now, I’m winging it. I had met Stan first year of college, he probably hated me at first but managed to put up with my drunk ass for a whole two months which I would like to think is a record. After two months he told me to get my act together. Needless to say, we got close afterward, and I gotta say it was the best thing that’s ever happened. I could lean on him and vice versa, he mainly used me to lament about Bill at 1 am instead of sleeping.

“Which leads me to this and yes, it is going to be even more cheesy. I was his emotional support animal during the whole time Stan was secretly crushing on Bill. I would watch as he cried about him and his girlfriend or how he thought Billy would never notice him. I, however, would catch Big Bill’s loving looks throughout and when they got together, I have to say, I’ve never seen two people click like that. It was as if Stan’s demeanor had changed and yes, I know him well enough to say that. These two boys mean the world to me and I hope that they can keep each other for the rest of their lives because they deserve it. You guys,” Richie turned to the newly wedded couple, “deserve the world.”

Claps sounded through the room as Richie sat down. Stan leaned over to him to whisper a ‘thank you’ before Richie smashed a piece of cake into his face. Stan gasped and whispered, “You fucking prick,” and proceeded to wipe the remnants onto Richie’s cheek. He laughed and pushed Stan lightly and Bill looked over to see his betrothed covered in cake.

“No fair!” Bill said, “I’m supposed to do that,”

“Dicks, both of you,” Stan grunted and wiped his face with a napkin.

After the dinner the dancing started, after the mandatory couple’s dance everyone began piling in. Richie had grabbed Eddie’s wrist and dragged him in, despite the shorter boy’s protests. He and Eddie have been together since college, they had a few bumps of course but it hardly mattered. Currently, Richie had his arms wrapped around Eddie’s small waist while his arms were wrapped around his neck. They swayed to the slow music that had just started playing, Richie placed his chin on Eddie’s head.

“Do you think we’ll ever have a wedding like this?” Eddie asked randomly during the dance.

“Of course, I do Eds,” Richie muttered into his hair, “Especially since you’d be the one planning it,”

“What makes you think I’d plan it?” Eddie pulled back slightly with his eyebrows scrunched together.

“Are you saying you’d let me pick out the cake? The decorations?” he asked with a smirk

“God, no,” Eddie groaned leaning back into Richie, “You would totally make them all look like dicks or something,”

“Awwe, babe you know me so well,” Richie cooed and pulled Eddie back to peck his nose.

“Do you think we’ll actually get married?” Eddie questioned shyly.

Richie smiled and gave him a slow kiss, “Wouldn’t doubt it for the world,”

…

It had been about two months since Bill and Stan’s wedding and Eddie was beginning to grow restless. After the conversation he had with Richie, Eddie had been a bundle of nerves. He would spend long nights wrapped in his boyfriend’s arms wondering silently if Richie would pop the question or if he should just man up and do it himself. They had been dating for four years and he had never been so sure of something in his whole life. He knew for a fact that he and Richie would get married but it was taking a while for them to get there.

He was so lost in thought that one of his co-workers had to snap him out of cleaning the same piece of machinery for ten minutes. Eddie shook his head and apologized before proceeding to work on the car. Eddie had moved on to a bigger shop that paid way more than his college job did. He was one of the best according to his boss and Eddie took that with pride. He made sure he worked harder than everyone else in order to maintain that title. There have been many times that Eddie stayed late to finish a car on time or early and come home covered in car grease. Those days he’d tread to the bathroom without a word and sit in the bath with a cup of wine like any respectable adult does.

Richie had gotten his radio show and had worked from seven at night to however late he decided to. People enjoyed his show and there would be times that when Eddie leaves for work Richie is just coming back. He worked hard in order to provide the best for his fans. Eddie often got upset with him if he spent all night at the station, saying it wasn’t healthy. Luckily, that wasn’t often and Richie had tried to limit himself as often as he could.

This night had been a bathtub and wine kind of night. He dragged himself to the bathroom and drew a bath. He enjoyed the quiet for all but two seconds and before he got into the bathtub took his laptop and turned on Netflix. He put on a new show since he finished his last one and placed it on the bathroom counter to watch as he soaked away the pain in his muscles. Eventually, after he noticed his fingers had wrinkled a considerable amount he got out of the tub.

He changed into his shorts and Richie’s old sweatshirt, that he had adopted as his own – he’d occasionally make Richie wear it so it smelled like him for the nights he missed him. He curled up under the comforter and read the book on his bedside table. Eddie felt his eyes begin to droop so he turned off the lights and promptly fell asleep.

He didn’t know how long he was out before there was a dip next to him. He blinked sleepily as he turned to look at Richie. The other man didn’t greet him and simply laid down and wrapped his arms around Eddie. They didn’t say anything because Eddie was pretty sure it was 1 am and he didn’t want to fully wake up. Instead, they just fell asleep, listening to each other’s breathing.

…

Beverly stared in utter disbelief at her girlfriend’s revelation. They had been enjoying a lovely evening out, eating dinner at a restaurant then walking around town. They walked by an old dessert shop that they have never been to but heard good things about. Over the years after college, she and her group of friends had moved to different places, not too far from each other but far enough that they couldn’t see one another as often as they would like.

However, after walking by the dessert shop Dana had said something that made Bev stop in her tracks, “You’ve never had apple cobbler?”

Dana span on her one foot to look at her, “No?”

“What kind of childhood-?” Beverly could barely finish her sentence. She was appalled that there might have been people that had never eaten the sweet concoction. Truthfully, it wasn’t her favorite but it was one of the small things from her childhood that she didn’t repress the hell out of. It reminded her of good times with her mom, eating it after a long day at work or school. Sitting out on the porch letting their legs dangle as her dad was fast asleep. It was a bittersweet feeling to eat it now but she couldn’t deny her girlfriend of anything.

“I don’t know babe,” Dana shrugged, “my mom didn’t let my siblings and I eat sugar. The first time I had soda and ice cream was when I was nineteen.”

That was one of the things that made Dana interesting to Bev. She grew up in a very strict household where she would have to give a speech just to be able to go out and hang out with her friends. Dana loved her parents but they were overbearing and made her nervous. It wasn’t like she could just come up to them and explain any of her feelings. This had eventually led to her blowing up at her parents, nearly unprompted and came out to them while explaining how terrible that she didn’t feel safe. Her parents sat in silence the whole way through before they wrapped her in a hug and told them how much they loved her.

Because of that, they’ve been getting closer and honestly, whenever Bev went to see her parents, she could barely tell that they were ever that strict. They clearly still were and that wouldn’t change but according to Dana, they’ve changed incredibly. Bev liked them enough, especially because she didn’t necessarily have parents she could go back to.

“Are you serious?” Beverly exclaimed before pulling her girlfriend into the dessert shop, “we’re getting it now,”

Dana happily complied and they ordered an apple cobbler to share. Turns out, the place earned its praise. It was probably the best Bev had ever tasted and judging by her girlfriend’s reaction, she was a fan as well. Bev let herself feel sad for a second, she wondered what her mom would’ve thought but one look at Dana and it felt as though all sadness disappeared. She looked down as her long hair fell over her shoulder nearly covering the side of her face, a smile gracing her beautiful face. Bev took a quick picture to remember this before deciding that she would post this to Instagram. She had to show her off somehow.

_@bevmarsh _She tried apple cobbler for the first time, she seems to like it I mean look at that smile!

She tagged Dana and they continued on with their night, holding hands and laughing at one another’s bad jokes.

…

_@eddiek _I love my gay moms

_@Benny_ she just now had apple cobbler???? I’m going to come down and make her eat more desserts

_@BillyD _cutest couple, fight me

_@StanUris _You have blessed my timeline

_@mikeman_ love and miss you guys!

_@danadrinks _thanks babe, you’re beautiful too <3

_@trashmouth.chee the_ lesbians are being cute, I feel like we need to showdown

@_bevmarsh _bring it trashmouth

…

Richie had been folding paper planes for what seemed like ages. He’s trying to make sure it looks and flies perfect before Eddie gets home. It was one of the rare nights that Richie had off and could actually be with Eddie when he got home. Truth be told he’d miss being able to greet him after work and wished his show could be earlier. Alas, such was not the case and Richie had to find the perfect time to do this. With a final test and a nod of affirmation, Richie had made the perfect plane.

He quickly scooped up the discarded planes and threw them into the trash quickly. Richie then made quick work to prepare Eddie’s favorite food, green bean casserole, specifically Richie’s. It took him the remainder of the afternoon to prepare for the perfect night. He finished just as Eddie entered the house.

“Welcome home babe!” Richie called over his shoulder, “as a celebration of having a night in I’ve made the casserole you like so much,”

Eddie practically ran into the kitchen sliding with his socks after taking off his shoes. He grabbed a bowl and took a sizeable chunk out of the pan. Eddie smiled, “You’re the best,”

“I know.”

“Do not ruin this dipshit,” Eddie snapped as he sat down at the island.

“Dipshit?” Richie hummed, “you know I can always take back-,”

“No!” Eddie exclaimed hugging the bowl closer, “I love you, please let me have it,”

“Now how can I say no to that?” Richie chuckled and sidled next to Eddie.

They talked about their day as they ate and there was a moment where Eddie made Richie laugh and choke on a green bean. This led Eddie to laugh hard and par his back like a baby. After that, he kept making choking jabs at Richie. He would role his eyes and laugh along, ignoring the blossoming butterflies swarming in his gut. He didn’t know why he was worried; he knew the answer -hopefully- and knew that he shouldn’t worry too much. What if something did go wrong?

Richie excused himself and secretly went off to get the paper plane he made earlier. He looked at it and made sure the ring was safely tucked in with the folds of paper. He took a deep breath, shaking slightly. It didn’t matter that he knew the outcome it didn’t stop him from worrying. It was a nerve-racking attempt no matter the situation and Richie really hoped that this went the way he wanted it to. He walked out and threw the plane lightly intending for it to land near Eddie.

Key word, intending.

Instead, Richie threw a bit too hard and it hit Eddie straight in the eye, “OW!”

Richie didn’t know whether to laugh or breakdown; so, he chose both, “I’m so sorry Eds!!,” he grabbed Eddie’s shoulder, somewhere between laughing and crying. He couldn’t tell the difference at this point.

“For fuck's sake Richie!” Eddie exclaimed, “what was that about?”

“I didn’t mean for it to land in your eye,”

“Oh well, that makes it better then!”

Richie was definitely laughing now, he pulled Eddie into a hug, “I’m so sorry Spaghetti,”

“At least I’m not going blind,” Eddie muttered, “unlike you.”

“Damn Eds,” Richie let go, “that was cold,” he walked away to clean up the kitchen.

“Are you not going to clean up your mess?” Eddie called out

“Trust me Eds, you’re going to want to pick it up,”

Then there was an unforgiving amount of silence that sent Richie nearly to the brink of insanity. Did he pick it up? What if he just walked away, not bothering. Knowing Eddie that seemed like the appropriate response from his love. He couldn’t move, hands on the pan, gripping it till his knuckles turned white. His face scrunched up in worry, this was such a bad idea. Eddie’s going to say no, isn’t he? God, then the best thing that’s ever happened to him is going to go away and it’s going to be all his fault.

Then he was forcibly turned around to face Eddie, the man he loved was trying hard not to cry as he slid the ring onto his finger.

He wrapped his arms around Richie’s neck and kissed him passionately, “Yes,” he whispered and that’s when everything fell into place.

…

A picture of them was posted on Instagram -after they told their friends of course- of them sitting on a couch with Eddie’s arms wrapped around Richie’s neck showing off his ring. They were both smiling as Richie held up the camera for a selfie.

_@trashmouth.chee _he said yes 😊

_@eddiek _I said yes

_@bevmarsh _fine, you guys win ☹ <3

…

Eddie forgets sometimes that Richie, despite all his crude jokes, is actually semi-famous. His radio show actually began to gain traction after someone had posted one of his bits onto Youtube. Now his shows routinely get posted onto the site with thousands watching. Eddie was beyond proud of his, now fiancée, but he sometimes is unnerved by the number of people that would come up to him and ask for a picture. The only reason he remembers Richie’s semi-fame is because after the announcement of their engagement Eddie got an influx of new followers.

Here’s the thing, Eddie is more than aware of the fact that Richie would love to post about him on a regular basis. He had expressed this to Eddie many times before but Eddie so gratefully would decline, not wanting to be put in the spotlight. Thankfully, the lanky man would respect that and not post pictures of him. Richie would tweet or talk about him sure, but he never name-dropped or revealed too much.

That is until their engagement and Richie had asked if he could post the picture of them on Instagram. Eddie reluctantly agreed and next thing he knows his followers went from 317 to an astounding 26.5k in about a day. Eddie had no idea that was even possible but apparently it was. He was still nowhere near the astounding 654.1k that Richie managed to accumulate but even the fact that that many people wanted to follow him just because he was a fiancée of a radio show personality. For all, it was worth he was happy that pretty much everyone was supportive of him and wanted to know him, at least he hoped they did.

Part of him knew that there were some people who followed him just because he was with Richie and he was gay. He tried to ignore those thoughts and decided to post a picture of him that Richie had taken from across the kitchen table one night. He was simply eating a pint of ice cream and had skeptical look on his face. Eddie wasn’t sure what to put so he decided to greet his new followers. About an hour later his post had the most likes he’d ever gotten and many comments of varying degrees, the most common being the ‘heart eyes’ or hi.

He smiled lightly at them but anxiety began to swell in his chest. He wanted pictures taken of their wedding but now that he had so many followers, he felt an overwhelming urge for it to look good. Eddie was aware that the wedding was supposed to be for him and Richie not the internet but if it didn’t look appealing what would they think? And oh my god he’s not even ‘famous’ and he’s freaking out about what people think of him. He expressed his nervousness about the sudden followers, not the wedding because he thought it was stupid.

“Don’t worry Eds,” Richie smiled, “my fans are chill and I think they’re just happy to finally know who I’m constantly raving about online,”

Eddie huffed, “I just don’t wanna disappoint them ‘Chee,”

Richie rolled his eyes as he tightened his hold on Eddie, “Just keep being your cute self and no one will be disappointed, believe me,”

…

Bill sat with Eddie and watched him go through multiple catalogs muttering to himself. Bill had come from out of town to help Eddie plan, per Stan's request as he was too busy working to help him out. He had no clue what the fuck he was doing, sure he was present as Stan had planned but he only asked Bill’s opinion when he couldn’t make up his mind, which wasn’t often. Now, he sat watching Eddie literally annotate the articles and circling certain pictures. It felt like he was sitting with a more frantic Stan which was a feat, to say the least. From what Richie had explained, he was in a similar predicament, barely able to help in fear of Eddie biting his handoff.

“Hey, Eddie,” Bill said quietly, the small boy looked up quickly, “I think you should, you know take a break?”

“Bill, I have to plan an entire wedding in eight months,” Eddie pointed out, “if this doesn’t get done now, when?”

“Eddie,” Bill laughed lightly, “it’s been two weeks, I think you have time.”

“I have to book a place soon so that way we actually have a place for the wedding,” Eddie reasoned and almost went back to annotating but Bill grabbed the purple marker out of his hands, “Hey!”

“Eddie, you should have Richie for these decisions,” Bill reasoned as he pocketed the marker, “relax,”

“Easy for you to say, Bill,” Eddie groaned, “Richie and I barely see each other, I have to be sure about everything so when we have some time together, we know exactly where to go,”

“Just relax for now,” Bill assured, “you know Richie will help you,”

Eddie bit his lip as he closed the magazine, he rubbed his eyes tiredly. Bill quirked an eyebrow, something was clearly eating at Eddie and he wasn’t saying anything. He pulled at his red sweater and his eyes kept flitting to the newspaper and back to Bill; clearly wanting to say something but holding back. Bill knew these actions well; they were the actions of Eddie knowing that he was nervous but thought that his worries were inherently pointless.

“What are you worried about Eddie?” Bill asked,

“It’s stupid,” he muttered and _Bingo_

“They’re not stupid,” Bill said, “C’mon you know they’re worth speaking about.”

Eddie sighed and twiddled with his thumbs a little before sighing, “It’s just- it’s just a few weeks ago I was literally a nobody online, but now, I have so many followers because of the engagement. And now I want the wedding to look perfect so when the pictures are posted they’re not disappointed. It’s stupid I know and that it should only matter what Richie and I think but I can’t help but think what everyone else will think.”

Bill nodded, “That was Stan’s worry too, he thought he had to make everything perfect to appease everyone and well you’ve heard about the binder,” Eddie let out a snort, “I had to calm him down majorly every day and I promise you Eddie that Richie will do the same. If he’s anything like me, he feels nervous too.”

Eddie nodded slowly and his fidgeting didn’t necessarily cease but it certainly decreased. Bill felt confident in his pep talk no matter how small the impact was. Maybe he actually had helped Eddie calm down just a small bit. Bill smiled softly and nodded towards the door, how about we go get coffee like the good ole days?”  
  


“If it was anything like the ‘good ole days’” Eddie mocked with air quotations, “then I’d get a discount,”

“Oh, I’m soooo sorry that I’ve actually published a book and am actually happy with my job for once,”

Eddie laughed and Bill felt that for the time being, things were okay.

…

Stan, for all it was worth, was irrevocably easy to irritate. It took a total of one conversation with his inexperienced and quite frankly dumbass co-workers to make him want to shove a pencil into his forehead. He would explain the same goddamn thing about 30 times to one person before they understood about 10% of what they were supposed to do. Eventually, they’d sense his irritation and leave him alone but it still left him with a sense of anger for the rest of the day.

Usually, Bill would be able to soothe his irritable nature when he got home but the fucker was with Eddie. And, yeah, maybe it was because Stan mildly threatened him but it was for a good cause.

_Fuck good causes_, Stan thought bitterly. It was a pain in the ass not to see his husband for a full two weeks. He was aching for contact with him, Stan selfishly wanted Bill all to himself again. Now, what was he left with? A sense of longing and raging horniness that quite frankly couldn’t take care of himself. In fact, he refused to deal with horniness by himself, needless to say, there were many cold showers. It wasn’t just the sex though, he missed waking up next to Bill in the morning, wrapped in his arms. Stan wanted to slap himself for acting like a teenager but apparently that was what he was reduced to with Bill.

Stan fell onto the bed with an overdramatic groan that could only be copied by an old fax machine that was on its last legs. He grabbed the phone out of his pocket and scrolled through whatever interested him at the time. This lasted for a total of 10 minutes before he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling with mock interest. He couldn’t remember the last time he was this bored.

He nearly fell off the bed when he heard the front door open. Stan momentarily thought that a murderer had broken into his home. Those thoughts were immediately forgotten when he heard Bill’s voice call out, “Babe are you here?” Stan calmly walked to the kitchen despite wanting to run and jump on Bill.

“Of course, I am Bill,” Stan crossed his arms, “You know when I get off work,”

Bill grinned, “I missed you too,”

Stan rolled his eyes and let himself be pulled towards Bill. They shared a kiss that pretty much said everything from, I cannot believe you left me for two weeks to I love you more than everything in this world. When Bill pulled away, Stan very nearly let out a growl before Bill began, quite passionately, began to kiss his neck. His growl turned to a groan and attempted to pull Bill closer.

Everything after that was a closely guarded secret.

…

Ben lived the closest to Bev so when she requested his assistance, he had no trouble coming down to help her out. It was about an hour's drive which he spent mostly on business calls because he really needed to get his next project finalized before construction could really begin. Sure, he should actually be present but in his eyes, his friends came first which could be seen as incredibly sweet or detrimental. He pulled up to Bev and Dana’s complex and promptly got out of the car.

Bev was at the entrance with a big box, she smiled sweetly and he sighed, “Did you call me out here to lift a box to your apartment?”

“Hey, you’re the one who has the muscles,” Bev shrugged, “I have to put them to use somehow,”

“What even is this?”

“A new couch,” Bev rolled her eyes, “Dana’s cat pissed all over the old one so now that we finally got her to pee in a litter box, we decided that it was time to get a new one.”

“You want me to lift a box up three flights of stairs,” Ben questioned.

“You can use the elevator!” Bev reasoned and Ben gave her an incredulous look.

“That will not fit in the elevator at any capacity Bev,” Her face morphed into a frown, “it’s fine Bev, you’ll just have to help me,”

It took an hour and a half before the couch was situated within the apartment. It was a lot of grunting -mainly from Bev- and nearly being brought to tears -also from Bev. They were now sat on the couch, red in the face and saying nothing in silence. If anyone had told Ben years ago that he be a close friend to Bev and wasn’t completely heartbroken he’d laugh without a question.

Ben had a huge crush on Bev for the longest time, since they were in high school to be exact. In their first year of college, Ben had confessed to her and she declined coming out to him as gay. He had been shocked when she told him, they were close friends and apparently, she had come out to everyone but him. He was hurt and confused if he had known he’d be able to get over it without embarrassing himself. This led to Ben shutting her out and wallowing in his own self-pity. He was miserable and from what Bev told him, so was she. It wasn’t until Richie, of all people, had managed to get them in the same room after two months and gave them a lecture on friends and told them to get their shit together. It worked and thankfully worked everything out, now Ben -still woefully single- considered Bev to be his best friend. He would say that she was like his sister but saying that someone you used to have a crush on was like your sister now seemed a little weird and Ben wouldn’t feel comfortable calling her that.

“Okay,” Ben said as he slowly stood up, “I’ve got to get back for work,”

“Already?” Bev groaned, “I feel like I barely see you anymore,”

“We’ll meet up again soon Bev,” Ben assured, “don’t miss me too much,”

“Too late,” Bev huffed before giving him a hug, “don’t be a stranger Ben,”

“Impossible with you Bev,” he replied and proceeded to walk out the door.

…

Mike very much-loved working with animals and while that wasn’t his main job, he still found time to do so. He would volunteer at a farm every now and then, the farm was by far one of his favorite places to be. Mike could spend hours just hanging out with the cows and the dogs. The farm wasn’t exactly the most expansive regarding animals but they certainly were the cutest. Of course, Mike thought every animal was cute so there wasn’t much credence to that statement.

And while working with animals made Mike happy, he knew that another reason he loved coming to the farm was the one farmhand, Thalia. She was tan with black hair that just barely reached her shoulders. In Mike’s mind, she was one of the most beautiful girls he’d ever seen. He didn’t want to sound creepy but she may have been the girl of his dreams. She loved animals, assertive and remarkably talented. He hadn’t tried anything because there was no indication that she reciprocated his feelings and the last thing he wanted to do was make her feel uncomfortable.

As of right now, he was helping her with the cows, “I really want to thank you for the help,” she said as she squatted down to bottle feed one of the calves.

“You know I don’t mind,” Mike commented copying her movements, “I love these guys,”

“I know that,” she laughed, “figured I might as well thank you anyway,”

“I appreciate it,” Mike hummed

“I feel like I should pay you or something,” Thalia sighed, “I feel bad that you do this all for free,”

Mike waved her off as he pulled the bottle from the calf, “I did this all the time as a kid, didn’t get paid then,”

“At least let me buy you dinner or something,” she offered without a second thought. Mike nearly dropped the empty bottle in surprise. He was lucky she didn’t seem to catch it as she closed the gate to the calf enclosure.

“Uh, sure,” he replied nervously and she smiled.

“I’ll figure out the details then,”

And she walked away leaving Mike to try and not die of a heart attack.

…

“Napkin swans?” Eddie asked incredulously

“Eds, it’s a symbol of our relationship!” Richie defended

“Who’s gonna understand that Richie?” Eddie ran a hand through his hair clearly exasperated. In truth, he liked the idea but he wanted to please other people more than himself, something he had not brought up to Richie at all in the past five weeks.

“Who cares Eds?” Richie asked, “it’s our wedding,”

Eddie held back a groan, contemplating on whether or not to explain to Richie what was going on within his mind. He rubbed his face before deciding that despite his nerves, Richie should know, “Richie I just, I feel like I need to impress everyone else. Like I feel responsible for giving the people what they want. And they wouldn’t what napkin swans no matter how cute the idea is,”

Richie gave him a sympathetic look, “Listen Eds, don’t worry about that. I know that’s hard but trust me when I say, you’ll regret it if you make our wedding about others, not yourself. I think you’re one hell of a planner, hell we’re about to go check out the venue already! You won’t have to worry about it too much. I don’t want you dying on before our wedding,”

“It’s not that easy Rich,” Eddie groaned

“Eds I know, that’s why you got me, to throw fucking ridiculous ideas at you in an effort to get what you actually want,”

“I do like the venue,” Eddie admitted, then quietly added, “and the swans,”

Richie gave him a thousand-watt smile, “I knew you’d like it,”

They checked out the venue afterward and Eddie was even more in love with it. A small park -that was meant for things like weddings- with plenty of trees and beautiful grass. He imagined what it’d look like in the fall and thought that yes, this was perfect. He really loved every inch of the place and upon looking at Richie’s reaction he agreed. They spent over an hour there just walking around and pointing at all the places they could take pictures at.

It gave Eddie a moment to decompress and spend time with Richie. He’d smile when Richie would say a stupid joke and Richie would hold his hand a little firmer when Eddie would get an idea of what to do. He felt more relaxed than he has in the past few weeks, maybe that was because the weather was nice maybe it was the park's atmosphere.

But Eddie knew in his heart, that it was Richie that made him happy.

…

It was a rare weekend; everyone was free and was able to hang out. It wasn’t often that this happened, the last time they were able to all hang out like that was about five months ago. Obviously, it wasn’t ideal, the group would much rather be able to hang out together like when they were in college. But they couldn’t and they knew that so when they were able to get together like this, it was never taken for granted.

“I swear to God Richie, I will pawn this ring if you try me,” Eddie growled as he took another Uno card from the deck.

“Well, then you better give me a percentage because I paid big money for that Eds,”

Playing board or card games together had become somewhat of a tradition between the ‘Losers’. And so, did their routine anger, “Don’t be so dramatic Eddie,” Stan mumbled as he pulled a reverse card out of his deck, “after all I’m probably going to be the one to end you,”

“You’re so cute when you’re threatening,” Bill commented as Eddie glared at Stan as he put a card down.

“Oh yeah, a real charmer,” Bev muttered

“I think I’m going to win,” Ben interjected as he placed another card down, “Uno,”

“Are you fucking kidding me!” Eddie exclaimed as he nearly threw his cards up in the air. Richie grabbed his arm and pulled it down without looking. He was studying his cards thoroughly and it was almost like a natural reflex.

Richie found himself doing that more and more often. Calming Eddie without thinking about it, he didn’t know when it started but he did start noticing it a few months ago. When he brought it up to Bill, he had said that he’s been doing that for years. Bill had even informed him that he once grabbed Eddie’s shoulder when he was about to jump Mike for beating him at Wii bowling. What had been so interesting, Bill had remarked, was that Richie didn’t look up from his phone and was barely part of the conversation in the first place.

Eddie grumbled as he freed his arm from Richie’s grasp and continued looking through his cards.

“Oh!” Mike said capturing everyone’s attention, “I forgot to tell you guys that I actually have a girlfriend now,” Everyone’s attention snapped towards him seemingly in sync.

“How do you forget that!” Bev exclaimed.

“What’s her name?” Bill questioned

“How did you meet her?” Ben asked

“Have you screwed her mom yet?” Richie added on

“Beep beep Richie,” Eddie said with his eyes wide.

“Worked for you,”

Eddie very nearly punched Richie’s arm before Stan pulled him back saying that Richie was a twig and that a punch will break his arm. This eventually led to Richie being offended and wanting to prove his strength. Which led to him arm-wrestling Ben, which led to Richie hurting his arm and holding a frozen bag of peas from Ben’s freezer to his bicep.

“Can we focus on Mike’s big news?” Bev asked staring in disbelief at Richie whimpering dramatically while Eddie held him.

“Right yes go ahead,” Eddie motioned for Mike to continue.

“Her name is Thalia and she’s the head farmhand at the place I volunteer at,” he explained with a smile on his face.

“We need to have a group date next time we all hang out,” Bev said excitedly. She had grabbed Mike’s shoulder in excitement, not taking in the wince he exhibited.

“That sounds fun for you guys,” Ben muttered, “but what about me?”

Everyone’s head whipped towards the blonde, registering for the first time that he was absentmindedly playing with one of the games pieces. Bev looked down awkwardly before looking back at him, “We could set you up with someone!”

Richie finally lifted off of Eddie’s shoulder to look at Bev incredulously. The thing was, no matter how much Ben clearly wanted someone, he would never go on a setup date. That was the thing about him that Richie had learned in the first few weeks of knowing Ben. The big muscular teddy bear loved love and believed wholeheartedly in meeting his life-time partner without knowing it. He would never accept a setup date because he didn’t want to be forced to go out with someone. The sheer fact that Bev would suggest this was clearly a byproduct of her being desperate to include her best friend not her not knowing him.

“No thanks,” Ben smiled, “I wanna meet someone naturally, you know that,”

Bev stayed silent and it remained quiet for a few seconds before Mike said, “Well you know what Ben? I think you’ll find someone, someone who doesn’t realize what they have is missing out greatly,”

Ben mumbled a ‘thanks Mike’ with a genuine tone but Richie who has mastered sounding sincere even when he was still doubting, wasn’t too sure.

…

Ben was sitting at his desk boredly twirling a pen between his fingers as he was trying to fill out paperwork. Normally, Ben loved his job, he loved having free rein of his stuff and working at a start-up was a challenge but fun. He liked everyone he worked with and they were completely and utterly dedicated to building this company up. However, Ben liked actually building a lot more than the ridiculous amount of paperwork he had to do. More often than not he would have to have someone snap their fingers in front of his face to get the paperwork done because if left by himself, he would never be able to finish it. This was a case where no one would spare their time to help him and keep him on track so he found himself losing interest quickly.

He managed to snap himself out of it and lean down to sign a few papers -a grand total of three- before the static feeling began to cover him again. Ben was about to stand and ask for help to see if that anyone was free now but before he could a loud knock shocked him out of the static. His eyes shot towards the glass window where Richie was standing, wearing an orange button-down that was open to show a black t-shirt with some ridiculous design on it.

Ben waved him in and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Not happy to see me Benny?” Richie teased and Ben rolled his eyes, “I brought lunch, I thought we could talk,”

Ben nodded hesitantly and stood up, “Let’s get out of the office at least,” they exited and he turned to the receptionist who was typing on the computer, “Hey Sophia, I’m heading out to lunch, anything I need to know before I leave?”

She smiled and gave a mock salute, “All good here boss man,”

When they exited the building, they found a bench to sit on, “So Richie, what brought you over here?”

“Well, to see you my good ole chap,” Richie replied easily handing him a sandwich. It was a little scary how much his voice was able to change after years of practice. It got to the point where it didn’t even sound like him anymore. However, those thoughts were just a small thought in the back of his head because he decided to give Richie a ‘be serious’ look. The lanky man held up his hands in mock surrender, “Alright, I was looking at venues for my live show coming here in a few months. Decided to pay you a visit as well because I’ve been meaning to talk to you,”

“That’s awesome Rich,” Ben congratulated, “what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Last game night,” Richie replied after taking a bite of his sandwich. Ben held back a sigh, the last game night had been a stark reminder of how lonely he was. He appreciated Bev’s efforts but he felt that it would be cheap to just be set up with someone.

“Oh?”

“I could tell you didn’t quite believe it when Mike told you that you’d find someone,” Richie leaned back, “I don’t know what to tell you dude, maybe I should’ve planned something, but I decided to wing it. More meaningful and shit I suppose. I used to think the same way, now I’m getting married soon and that’s insane to me. When I was getting through all my shit in college, I couldn’t think of one person who would be able to deal with me. Then I met Eddie, it wasn’t love at first sight really but when we started dating it felt so real even though at first it wasn’t. Point is dude, there’s always hope, just because you haven’t met someone yet doesn’t mean you won’t. Believe in yourself a little man, you’re hot flaunt that shit.”

Ben nodded, “I guess I just don’t feel like it’ll happen, I mean it’s not like I’ve had the best history,”

“Don’t let your history fuck up your decisions now,” Richie shrugged, “besides that receptionist of yours is pretty cute, you could totally enact the whole porn book things Eddie reads,”

“Sophie?” Ben questioned, she was someone he had hired recently. Sure, she was cute with her big hazel eyes and her brown hair. She was nice and funny but he had never thought of her that way.

“You know it Haystack,” Richie shot back. They didn’t further the conversation until the end of their meal and they were walking back to Ben’s work.

“Hey, Richie?” Ben said as they stopped at the door, “what did you mean by ‘it wasn’t real at first,’?”

…

“This is why you need to plan what you say!” Eddie exclaimed pacing the apartment and throwing his arms up dramatically.

Eddie had gotten a very angry and confused group call from the Losers after he had finished tasting and picking the cake- chocolate and strawberry by the way- talking about his fake relationship with Richie. It had dawned on him in the cacophony of voices that, oh yeah, they never told anyone that it was fake at one point. After they had gotten together, they didn’t think it’d be necessary to explain what had happened between them. They just continued on without an issue, and they never really thought of it. That whole experience had already felt like they were dating anyway so worrying about that wasn’t a huge deal to either of them.

Richie had gotten home and explained his fuck up with Ben and now Eddie was ranting. He was still pacing, “I mean I could’ve gone my whole life without them knowing, why would you let that slip?”

Richie crossed his arms as he leaned against the counter, “I was being heartfelt,”

“Well, it doesn’t matter now! I had to smooth things over with them so they weren’t upset with us, do you know how close I was to having a breakdown?” Eddie promptly flopped onto a chair emotionally and physically exhausted.

Richie rubbed his face, “I know Eds, I’m sorry. I just- I was trying to help Ben out and my stupid mouth got the better of me. Truth be told, I didn’t even realize I said it. I’m just so sorry Eds, I didn’t want to stress you out,”

He took a few tentative steps towards the chair before sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of Eddie. He placed a large hand on Eddie’s thigh, the smaller boy took a shuddering breath before placing a small hand over his fiancée’s. It was very quiet for a moment, all that could be heard was Eddie’s ragged breathing as he attempted to calm down, the previous anxiousness bubbling up again just from thinking about it. His eyes drifted over Richie’s face, it was still, as though he was waiting for his response, to make sure Eddie didn’t completely blame him.

“I know Chee’” Eddie sighed stroking a thumb over the back of his hand, “it’s just been stressful at work and the thought of calling my mom to ask her about the wedding, it’s just too much.”

Another moment of silence before Richie grabbed Eddie’s hands and pulled him up, “Then we should destress you,”

“I am not in the mood right now Rich,”

“Oh Spaghetti!” Richie gasped pulling one hand and placed it on his chest in offense, “do you think I’m just some sex maniac? I was suggesting a massage maybe a funny movie,”

Eddie’s face burned as he fell against his chest in laughter, “Shut up trashmouth,”

“Mmm,” Richie sighed wrapping his arms securely around him, “you like my trashmouth too much,”

Eddie looked up to see Richie grinning and if he was honest, he couldn’t stop himself from grinning either.

…

Thalia, Mike realizes very early on, is a force to be reckoned in public. She was sarcastic and quick-witted and always got what she wanted with trained charisma. She loved her animals and was very aggressive if anyone were to treat them the wrong way. They were practically her babies and it was very cute to watch but she’s this way with her significant others as well. She took priority over them and would scold people who even looked at him the wrong way. Mike loved that but also realized how absolutely crazy it was. Luckily, he seemed to calm her down significantly with a touch to the arm or even just looking at her before she could say anything. It seemed to help her destress and relax as well without the worry of what others would think.

When he had asked her why she felt the need to be so protective of others she revealed that it was because she had grown up dealing with assholes. They would scoff at her any time she would try to assert herself and would constantly tease her with insults and she ended up feeling inadequate and had to push herself to unbelievable limits to be taken seriously. Mike, upon hearing this, had trouble trying to figure out how the hell anyone could ever cross her. Hell, just one look from her effectively shut him up. They’d been dating for two months now and Mike still stands by the fact that she was his dream girl.

He smiled to himself as he groomed the horses that they had recently got before heading out. Mike already had a long day at work and was incredibly tired so his time at the farm was minimal really. Thalia, despite wanting to see her, wasn’t there, dealing with other work. He had come in per her request, though she didn’t necessarily ask verbally just subtly said that ‘I’m not going to be there and I hope someone there knows what they’re doing’.

God, he hoped she liked how he was handling this.

…

Richie watched as Eddie stared at the phone as if it was the devils incarnate. He was supposed to call his mom in an effort to see if she actually wanted to come to the wedding. Richie had already called his parents without issue for once and they were going to come under the agreement that his mom doesn’t touch the alcohol. Now, Eddie had to face his blatantly homophobic mom to tell her, ‘what’s up mom? I’m getting married and guess what it’s not with a girl like you would want. It’s for this dude that I am hopelessly in love with and you’ve seen him before. You’ve hooked up with him,’ (Richie got slapped in the arm for suggesting saying that to Eddie).

“Breathe Eds,” Richie soothed, “You’ll be okay, I’m right here,”

Eddie nodded but still didn’t touch the phone for another minute, it was a little awkward and Richie wanted to give Eddie space to breathe. Richie managed to get a bowl of pretzels, knowing that was his fiancée’s stress food. He placed the bowl tentatively on the table when Eddie finally grabbed the phone and frantically called his mother putting her on speaker.

He bit his nails nervously and on the third ring, “Eddie bear?”

Eddie gasped and looked on the verge of tears, Richie stood while he spoke, “Hi mommy,” when he finished Richie laid on Eddie’s lap and gave calming strokes on his cheek. Eddie leaned into the touch quietly and carded his hands through Richie’s hair.

“Oh, it’s so good to hear from you!” his mother practically shrieked, “are you doing well, you’re still taking your meds?”

“No mommy,” Eddie whimpered and Richie had to stop himself from kissing the worries away, “we’ve been through this I stopped taking them,”

“Of course, of course,” Sonia practically shrugged it off, “You know what’s good for you and all that,”

“Right,” Eddie sighed, “Look, I just wanted to tell you, that I’m, that I’m getting married,”

The silence that followed was deafening and terrifying then a quiet voice, “I didn’t know you were in a relationship Eddie bear,”

“Yeah, I-,”

“Who’s the lucky lady?”

“Guy, mom, I’m with a guy,”

“Don’t be ridiculous Eddie,” Sonia laughed, “you can’t seriously be thinking of spending the rest of your life with a man,”

Eddie’s face hardened and Richie could practically feel the anger radiating off of him. Richie wanted to know exactly what he was thinking but he couldn’t so he stayed silent for once.

“Yes mom, I am,” Eddie grunted out, “I just wanted to know if you wanted to be a guest,”

“Eddie bear, please ask me when you’re having a real wedding and not one of your flings,” Sonia said and continued to babble on about something but Richie couldn’t hear.

Eddie’s knuckles were white from gripping the phone, tears were silently streaming down his face. Richie hung up the phone for him and sat up to look at him. Eddie was breathing quickly and his face was red, from either anger or despair Richie honestly couldn’t tell. Though he did try to soothe Eddie the best he could. Talking low and slowly, about literally nothing desperate to comfort him in any way he could. There wasn’t much else he could do beyond that, being with Eddie for so long he knew that.

“Why am I so upset over this?” Eddie trembled, “I knew that would be the outcome, why would I even try,”

“We all want our parents to be supportive Eds,”

“Easy for you to say,” he said, “your parents actually want to be there. Mine doesn’t even believe that this is real. God, I’m so stupid.”

“You’re right,” Richie finally said, “my parents are supportive and I’m thankful for that. But I know that you really wanted your mom to be the same. You’ve told me this before and I wouldn’t forget that Eds.”

Eddie didn’t calm down for a while after that, he would go between wanting to be next to Richie to being upset with him. He let Eddie go through all the courses, he even grabbed paper and guided him in making a paper airplane. Reasoning that a swan would be too frustrating for him to make in that state. At first, Eddie didn’t want any part of it until he finally conceded and learned how to make one.

That night they made 12 airplanes.

…

It was today.

The wedding was today and it felt like just yesterday he and Richie were sitting in their living room after making airplanes.

Eddie was nervous, constantly readjusting his suit and fixing things in his room. He then paces around the room for a few minutes before going through the same routine again. The room eventually, has nothing left to fix and the suit has been adjusted enough. He reverts to sitting down and nearly having a breakdown. It takes Bill sitting next to him and calming him to get Eddie to finally breathe. It’s not like he was unsure, he was just nervous about messing his vows up and cutting the cake right. It doesn’t matter that Richie wouldn’t care because Eddie would definitely stress out about it for weeks even months on end.

The nerves hardly subside until he walks down the aisle and sees that Richie is wearing a completely normal suit until he sees the duck bowtie and with a matching pocket square. Eddie tries to keep himself from laughing because he has to keep his composure for the ceremony to continue. And it does, with Eddie eyeing the bowtie and then flicking his eyes towards Richie (who was grinning).

Then the vows came and Eddie felt like the nerves were making a vicious resurgence.

Thankfully, Richie was going first, “Hiya Eds, Eddie Spaghetti, Eduardo, and any of the various names I’ve given you over these past years. First, I gotta say, I love that you actually went with the swans because I seriously thought you were just humoring me. Second, I just want you to know how much I love you, how much you mean to me. I can’t put it into words, it’s cheesy and honestly, I think I’m the luckiest man around here. Somehow, you agreed to be with me and if I can do that then shit, unicorns, and all that other shit is real. When we first met, I don’t think I would’ve imagined this happening. Though now that we’re standing here then I should just say; the sun, the stars and everything else around us all collided in my mind when I met you, the grass became greener and the world brighter. The beauty of it, Eds let me tell you is that the world can only handle so much love, so I guess that the universe is going to have to take some of it. There’s no way that the Earth itself, could handle all the love I have for you. So, Eds, Eddie Spaghetti, Eduardo, and any of the other names I will inevitably call you, I promise to love and care for you for the rest of my life because that’s what we deserve.”

Eddie was able to compose himself even though it was painfully obvious that he wanted to burst into tears right then and there. But he didn’t so he stood a little straighter and said, “Richie, I hated you so much when we first met, then after a series of events, I fell in love. I have no clue how you did it but you did and by some amazing miracle, you felt the same too. We’ve been happy together and we’ve been mad at each other, luckily, we’re not mad at each other that often. You have put up with my mood swings better than even my best friend. You’ve made me feel so happy and have calmed me to some unmeasurable degree. The thing is Rich, I see more and notice more with you, I laugh until I can’t breathe, I see more habits from others, I’ve seen so much beauty with you. Though, despite all the things I’ve seen, you remain the best thing I’ve seen in my life. So, my question to you Richie, are you ready for me to pour even more love for you?”

When they leaned in to kiss everything felt right and the world seemed to fit into place.

They pulled apart and Eddie leaned in and whispered in Richie’s ear, “I fucked your mom,” and Richie’s laugh made it all worth it.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it, I didn't really go in and revise or redo things because I was just in the mood to write then post :)
> 
> Tumblr~ @thedesertpenguin


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